Torchwood: Varvara
by seafaringwriter1657
Summary: Caden Phyre is your average American college student studying abroad in Cardiff. When walking home one night she’s assaulted by an alien and when a man in period military clothing rescues her, her world changes.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1: Torchwood**

Running up all the flights of stairs in the stairwell made the muscles in my legs burn, but I pushed it aside and focused on why we were running up stairs. All night we'd been tracking a Varvara throughout Cardiff. Varvaras are similar to giant chameleons running about on two legs. They have a sort of camouflage mechanism that lets them look like anyone on the streets, which made the job tricky. Jack and I were running up the stairs hoping that it would be quicker than the one elevator the complex had which Gwen and Ianto were taking. Running up all these stairs heading for the fifth floor was made easier by the thought that we were racing to try to save someone, not to mention the adrenaline that always pumps hard when we're on a chase.

Finally Jack and I reached the door with a large number five on it. Jack turned the handle and threw it open just enough for both of us to sneak through. We ran down the hallway towards door 53. The elevator doors chimed as it finally reached level five and Ianto and Gwen came out and joined us. Door 53 was cracked open, and its occupants had likely heard the elevator chime. Jack slammed the door in seconds after we heard a gun being fired. Laying on the floor in a big bloody mess was the majority of what was once a human body. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye in the direction of the living room sliding door to the balcony and fire escape, I heard the Varvara smash the glass in an effort to escape our grasp. Jack didn't pause to take in the scene, but followed the blur out the broken door and down the fire escape. I could hear both Jack and the Varvara's clanging footsteps down the rusty fire escape. I turned my attention back to the scene before me.

I walked over to the body. I hadn't planned on working that night. That night I was just going to hit a club with some college buddies, and have a few laughs. I told myself that after that night, I was going to make sure there was a change of clothes in the hub. I felt ridiculous in a white summer dress. At least I wasn't wearing heels. I knelt down next to the woman. When she was alive just a few minutes ago, she was around my age and a brunette like me. There was a gaping hole in the front of her face; I realized that she probably didn't have a back to her skull anymore. The killer was definitely our alien, the blood splatter pattern was similar to the pattern at the other scenes, and the alien was using hollow tipped rounds, a bit of a calling card. All the victims tonight were young brunettes. I explored the victim's living room, looking for some bullet fragments that would give me a clue to the make of the gun. I was stepping carefully, trying not to leave any shoe prints in the blood splatter and skull fragments enclosing the room in an envelope of blood.

"Let's head out." Gwen said.

Gwen and I looked at Ianto, who nodded. He'd stay behind and clean up. I keep forgetting that my tiptoeing around the place is pointless, and only prevents huge globs of blood accumulating on the soles of my shoes.

Gwen and I headed for the elevator; we'd have to track Jack down once we got outside. The comms in our ear were on so whenever he told us his location, we'd hear him.

I was glad the dress I wore had a thick belt on it. It hid the barrel of the pistol I had been issued. The light jacket I had on concealed the rest of the gun.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: Origins**

Inside the elevator it was quiet. Gwen didn't start up a conversation, and I wasn't going to either. When we're tracking down aliens we're not exactly the chattiest bunch, you need a strong mind set when you deal with the carnage we do. I wondered how I had gone from being an average American college student studying abroad in Cardiff, to working in Torchwood.

I was walking back from my college friend Wendy Medwin's place; it was dark, shortly before midnight on a Friday. We'd just gotten done cramming for a microbiology test for Monday. I didn't live that far away, and it had been a nice day so I'd just walked over. It was cold that night, and I had begun to regret walking over. My jacket wasn't nearly warm enough, and I had been frightened of being mugged or something. I had heard a voice behind me, "Where're you going, sweetheart?" I was creeped out, I began walking faster trying to out pace whoever was behind me. I only made a few strides when I was grabbed from behind. I dropped my books and my purse on the pavement, and couldn't help but scream. A reptile-like hand covered my mouth stopping my scream, "Shhh," the thing covering my mouth whispered in my ear. I couldn't move my arm to get my elbow into the stomach. I was going to try to step on the foot, when I heard the double click I knew so well.

"Hold it right there!" a male authoritative American-sounding voice came from behind.

The alien, for that's what I deduced him to be, swung both of us around to face my rescuer. The man that had come to my rescue wore clothes I swore I'd seen in World War II films, looking like he had just popped out of one. I didn't care; all I wanted at that moment was to get away from the thing holding me back. We all just looked at each other for a moment. Then the military man had fired his pistol twice.

I was pulled backwards and landed hard on the cement. My head hit the cement kinda hard, but the majority of my fall was taken by my bottom. Reluctantly, I turned to face my attacker. It was entirely black with an exoskeleton and was seeping green-gray goop from the entry wounds. The green-gray goop was also quickly making a puddle. I picked up the gun the alien had been carrying, and stood up. Still looking at the alien, I asked the man in the coat, "Are you sure it's dead?" Two more shots, from a different gun answered me. Without thinking, I took shelter behind a dumpster until I realized the coast was clear. I peeked around the corner of the dumpster, the military man was no where to be seen. I looked at the gun in my hands and thought it looked so foreign. I'd never seen a pistol like it before. Now my fingerprints were on it, I wasn't going to leave it with that dead alien, so I picked up my books from the ground and brought the pistol home.

I hurried inside my apartment and after dumping my purse on the coffee table, hid the pistol in the linen closet on the bottom and all the way back. If anyone was digging through the closet looking for the gun, they'd have to lie on the floor to reach it. I dumped my books on the kitchen table near where my backpack sat in one of the chairs. I flopped down in a chair next to my backpack. I pulled my microbiology notebook closer to me and drew a picture of the gun I had hid in the linen closet. I was going to look up the make in a book I'd have to hunt down in the library at school. In the margins of the paper I wrote a description of the man I had seen, along with the alien. I closed the notebook and placed it under my microbiology book. I yawned.

I headed to my bedroom and dressed into my pajamas. They're nothing special, just shorts and a t-shirt. After brushing my teeth and stifling another yawn, I returned to the kitchen to turn off the lights. At least that was my intention until I saw the man from the alley sitting in my living room.

"Most people would scream then start crying if they had been in your situation." He said. He was definitely an American like me.

"Guns don't scare me," I said, "so who are you? Hunting down aliens in the night," I trailed off. He looked at me like I was weird for saying the word alien.

"You hit your head." He insisted.

"It's not that bad." I glared at him, knowing he knew I wasn't kidding and really wanted an answer.

"I'm Torchwood." He stated. I looked at him quizzically, so he continued, "Cardiff is the home of Torchwood three. Torchwood tracks down alien life and arms the human race against the future, and I really need that gun you picked up."

"I don't know what,"

"Of course you know." He cut me off, "You bent down to pick it up. I'm here to switch with you." He held up my wallet.

"How did you get that?" I asked.

"When you were grabbed your books and purse fell. You left this behind."

He was lying. I keep my wallet in the hidden zipper compartment in my purse. There was no way it could have fallen out. There was some reason he had stolen it, "So what did the background check you ran say?" I asked him, looking straight into his face.

There was a small twitch of his facial muscles. He peered at me for a few seconds before answering, "Caden Phyre, 20 years old, home town of Wausau, Wisconsin currently going to school for ballistic science. No criminal record. Has a brother still in Wisconsin along with two parents and some extended family, need I go on?"

"Got me," I said, "anything else you need to know?"

"Where you hid the gun you took from the alien."

"How can I be sure you won't drug me as soon as I fork it over?" Again, his facial muscles twitched, I must have hit right on, so I continued, "Before I tell you and you drug me, just tell me who you are."

He glared at me for a bit, and then his facial muscles relaxed, "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Linen closet. Lay on the floor and reach your hand forward, it's in the back."

He leaned forward and placed a small white pill on the coffee table.

"If you think I'm taking that willingly, you thought wrong."

"I figured you might say that." In one swift movement, he stood and in two long strides he crossed the distance between us. He had pulled a handkerchief from inside his coat pocket. Still holding it in his hand, he placed it over my nose and mouth.

I started to struggle, but he was at least half a head taller than me and must be three times stronger. I held my breath as long as I could, but then I couldn't resist any longer, I needed air. I took a deep breath. Shortly thereafter, I blacked out.

XX

The next morning I woke snuggled underneath the blanket I normally throw off the bed and onto the floor. I figured I must have been really tired the night before. I thought about it, but I couldn't remember what I had done the night before. My head was a bit sore, and I figured I must have fallen sometime because my bottom was tender. In the kitchen, I fixed myself some cereal and cut up a banana into it. When I reached for the refrigerator door to grab the milk, my hand froze. I looked at the calendar. I knew today was Saturday, but I didn't remember going to the study group at Wendy's the night before. I knew I would never miss a study group, especially one the weekend before a big exam.

I picked up the phone and called Wendy.

Wendy picked up after the second ring, and asked tiredly, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me," I told her, knowing she would recognize my voice, "Was I over at your house last night?" I had to know if somehow I was off on my days of the week, or if I had missed study group.

"Of course you were, why are you asking me?"

"I don't know. I don't remember what happened last night." I felt stupid telling her this, but in the back of my mind I knew she would be the one person that would understand.

"If it helps, you left my apartment around midnight, you told me you were going straight home. You're not the 'let's take a detour' type person, something could have happened on your way home."

Hey, at least she was throwing out theories. "I have no idea. I can't remember anything I did yesterday."

"Maybe you wrote something down somewhere."

"Maybe," I said. I sat at the kitchen table and pulled out my microbiology notebook. I leafed through the pages, "I found the notes I took yesterday," I paused, "at least they're dated with yesterday's date. Your handwriting is in the margins," I flipped to the last page, "oh my gosh."

"What?" Wendy asked.

"Um, can I call you back?"

"Sure," she said, "are you okay?"

"Fine, I think I just found something, I'll call you later." I hung up without hearing her response. Drawn on the last page in my notebook was a picture of a strange gun. I peered at it for a few minutes trying to make sense of it. It wasn't like any other gun I'd ever seen. It looked like a cross between a Thompson Contender and a revolver, only it seemed curved. The bullet I had drawn next to it seemed too small to be for that gun. I wondered what kind of gun could be curved and still work?

The handwritten notes in the margins were definitely my hand writing. I'd written a note about some alien and a man who looked as if he'd popped out of a World War II movie. I don't have that good of an imagination to create some person I'd never met, and I certainly didn't believe in aliens. I decided I'd have to retrace the steps back from Wendy's apartment to see if anything came back.

A half an hour later, I was standing in the middle of the alley between Wendy's place and mine, just looking around, trying to figure out what had happened. I had gone straight to the alley. I realized that if anything happened last night, it was here where no witnesses would be. I closed my eyes, trying to picture the man in the World War II outfit. A hand came down on my shoulder and I jumped. Just before I yanked my eyes open, I saw the man in the World War II coat shoot a gun in my direction, but the bullet never hit me.

"Wendy, you scared me."

Her blond hair shone bright in the sunlight. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just heading over to your place to see if you're okay."

"I'm fine."

"Liar," she said, "I want to help. There has to be a reason you don't remember."

"I know I was here."

"What about the clothes you were wearing last night?" Her blue eyes sparkled. They only sparkle when she's up to something.

"What about them?" I asked.

"Well, if they're ripped, it should mean that you were grabbed, if a gun was fired there would be blood splatter covering it, and you should be able to see what happened through the splatter."

"No need," I said, "There was a man over there." I pointed to where the man in the World War II jacket had been standing, "He shot a gun in my direction." I paused, "He was aiming at something behind me." I remembered the description I had written in my microbiology notebook. I wasn't going to tell Wendy about my alien theory.

"You mean someone?"

"I don't know. But this man did shoot at something behind me. If there's any splatter on my clothes, it would be on my back. I don't thing I actually saw what got shot."

"Obviously you had a rough night. Let me take you to lunch."

"Yea," I looked once more around the alley, "let me just grab my purse."

Back in my apartment, I approached the coffee table in the living room. I looked down at the table and saw a round little white object the size of a pill. I picked it up and looked at it closer.

"What are you looking at?"

"I think it's a pill," I turned to look at her, "I don't own any white pills."

"Do you think someone was in your apartment?"

I closed my eyes and tried to picture the pill. The man in the World War II coat had held it out to me, his name popped out to me like graffiti would on a dark brick wall, "Jack Harkness."

"Who?"

"Jack Harkness. I think he said something about being a captain or something."

"Was he in the alley?"

"Yea," I told her, "I think he shot whatever was behind me."

"You let a killer in your apartment? You should be lucky you're alive."

"No, I see him in my mind, but I don't feel fear. I think he saved me." We just looked at each other for a few minutes, until I broke the silence with, "Let's go get some food."

XX

Wendy decided to treat me to my favorite Mediterranean food place, the Ouzo Café. It was a perfect day outside; the sun was shining down warm light upon us without a cloud in the sky to block it.

Wendy and I had decided to walk. Ouzo's wasn't that far from my place, and us both being, in a sense, poor college students, we didn't always have money for public transportation, though it wasn't that expensive.

Wendy had lived in Cardiff all her life and knew all the alleyways and shortcuts to get everywhere. I would never take some of her shortcuts by myself, but with Wendy with me, I'd go anywhere.

We were walking through one of the alleys and a black SUV was quick approaching us. It was going quicker than normal SUVs would in the same alley. I grabbed Wendy's jacket and pulled her back to the alley wall behind a dumpster so she wouldn't get hit.

Was it just my imagination, or had I seen the word Torchwood on the side of the SUV. The word wasn't that large, just large enough to be noticed. It came back to me that the Jack Harkness I had met last night had said the word Torchwood.

I heard his American voice in my head, "Torchwood tracks down alien life and arms the human race against the future." I remembered turning around the night before in a different alley, and seeing that alien laying dead on the alley floor. All the pieces fit now.

Without a word to Wendy, I took off after the SUV. It had traveled a way down the alley and was already turning a corner. I had to run to keep up. It was headed to the waterfront. The SUV took a few sharp corners and I had problems keeping up with it. I lost visual as it turned yet another corner. I pushed my aching legs just a little harder to catch up. When I rounded the corner, the SUV was nowhere to be seen. My heart sank.

In front of me was some shack. Its wooden door looked like anybody could kick it in, and the little porthole of a window was too high to see inside.

This couldn't be Torchwood. Torchwood's base wouldn't be in some shack, with all the alien technology they'd taken from aliens hidden behind a weak wooden door. I turned to walk towards the Wales Millennium Centre, back in the direction I had left Wendy.

"Miss me?" an American voice asked from behind me.

I turned back in the direction of the shack and saw the man in the World War II coat, but I had to be sure, "Jack Harkness?" I asked.

"In the flesh, you know, not many people can overcome the Retcon."

"The what?"

"Retcon," he said, "it makes you forget."

"I think you wanted me to remember." I said.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"You're sloppy," I told him, "you left the amnesia pill on my coffee table and you didn't go through my books to see if I had written anything about you or that gun."

"Do you want a job?" He asked.

The offer had come from nowhere; I was confused, "What?"

"I asked you if you wanted a job. I figure you know how to shoot, and you carry yourself well in situations others would be reduced to tears in. We're a bit short-handed, and I think your talents could be of use."

"My talents don't have a college degree yet, would I be able to finish school?" Why was I asking details of the job? I had only met this man last night, but he had saved my life.

"Once you work for Torchwood, you don't work anywhere else. It's a job for life. If you can handle school and work, be my guest. I should warn you that you can't talk about Torchwood to any outsiders."

"Why?"

"They'll think your crazy, talking about how you hunt aliens to arm the human race against the future." He said bluntly.

"Yeah,"

He made a follow me gesture and we stepped onto a cement square, "Going down," he punched a few keys on his wrist band, and we began lowering into the ground.

"You have a lift in the middle of a public place? Won't people see you?"

He just laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: A New Lead**

The elevator doors opened, ripping me from my memories. Gwen and I headed to the back of the building and saw that the alien had cut his hand on a sharp corner, and there was a little splotch of black blood glistening on the ground. Every few feet, there was another blotch. We followed the blotches around a few corners and into yet another apartment complex. It was a small one, only a six family complex. It wasn't far from my own apartment, and I knew some of the people in this complex. There was only one person who lived alone. And like the previous victims, she was a brunette. She lived on the base floor and I led Gwen to the apartment the woman had to have been in. We took out our concealed guns.

We walked in to see that she was already dead. Shot with the same gun. Jack was standing in the corner next to yet another broken window. I heard his voice both through the sound waves coming to me from across the room, and through the comm in my ear.

"Ianto, we got another mess." He told Ianto where we were, and said he'd start cleaning up.

The Varvara was busy tonight. Ianto had left scenes partially cleaned. Our fingerprints, shoe prints, and anything else tying us to the scene had been wiped clear. We were only three people without him, and couldn't let the Varvara go kill someone else while we were cleaning up its mess as if we were its nanny.

I was angry that we couldn't stop another person from being murdered. We'd been following a bloody trail throughout the night. And I was fed up that we couldn't seem to save these people, always being at least one step behind the Varvara. I stormed out of the apartment.

Gwen called out after me, "Where are you going?"

I told her somewhat harshly, "For a stroll," And I headed out.

On the way to the outside door I put the handgun back into the belt on my dress, making sure it was fully concealed. It had been pretty useless that night. I took the comm out of my ear and switched it off, shoving it into a zippered pocket in my jacket. I figured a walk around the lit up city would be nice, and maybe I could sort through some of the details and figure out where it might be heading with the random killings.

After about twenty minutes of wandering, I headed to the train station. It was late and I actually wanted to get something done before class on Monday. It's pretty hectic trying to have a life outside Torchwood, but I was determined to get my degree, and besides, I was almost done.

I got on the train, and it was surprisingly packed for a Saturday night. There was a small section of 4 seats that only had one seat occupied. I went over to the empty seats and sat across from the occupant.

He looked up at my arrival and smiled. His clean bright white teeth peered at me as he spoke a greeting, "Hello," his voice was fluid and soft. He said the greeting as if we were long lost friends.

Before I was mesmerized by him, my eyes had been peering above his shoulder, looking at the other occupants. Through the dim-lighted cabin, the man's clear blue eyes peered anxiously at me, awaiting a reply. His short cropped blond hair looked as if he'd never combed it. I realized I was starring, and muttered a quick, "Hi," before he thought he was the latest attraction at the zoo.

"My name is Gwylim." He said innocently, his accent shone through. It wasn't Welsh, but I couldn't quite place it.

His voice was like poetry to my ears, I needed to know more about him, "I'm Caden." I said in reply. My voice seemed hoarse to me, I had been working a long night, "Gwylim isn't a name you hear everyday." I said.

"Yeah, my mother had a sense of humor," he laughed softly, "So what brings you out this late at night, Caden?" he asked, I could tell he was anxious to get away from the talk about his name.

I couldn't stop looking at him, everyone else in the subway cabin was no longer important to me, I figured that the alien could be sitting in the seat next to me, and I wouldn't know, because I would be too busy looking at Gwylim. I answered with a lie I hoped he didn't pick up, "I was out with some friends," His blue eyes sparkled, I continued, "they drank a bit much, so I ended up taking them home, and left my friend's car at her place, figuring I could take the subway home." Maybe that was a little too thought out, but I think it flew, "How about you?"

"I was out looking for an adventure," He explained, my ears perked up, my entire night had been an adventure. He continued, "to no luck."

I laughed easily. We asked each other a barrage of questions, until the mechanical voice came over the speakers announcing the station we were approaching. It was my stop. I stood a bit early, knowing it would be hard to break the conversation, "This really is my stop," I said, dropping off.

"Alas," he said, "all good things do come to an end." He stood and held out his hand as if waiting for me to shake it.

"That's an interesting tattoo," I said as I noted the strange black runes printed on his arm that were revealed when his rolled up sleeves pulled away. I placed my hand in his and began the motion of shaking his hand, when he pulled it to his lips and kissed it.

"It's Korean," he said, "it says wanderer." He paused, "I suppose I'll see you around."

"I'd like that." I told him. The subway train had stopped, and I had to exit before the doors closed and I was stuck until the next station. I stepped onto the platform and waved to him through the glass window. He waved back, and the train started moving again. It was then I had realized that we had never exchanged contact information. I sighed, and then returned to the surface of the city, off to base to drop off the gun I still had in the belt of my dress. If any friends came over for surprise visits, I didn't want them seeing the gun, and wonder what I really did at work.

I wondered what the team was up to since I left, so I pulled the comm out of my pocket, turned it on, and returned it to my ear. I had been taking a short cut through a late-night open market place near the water when I heard a strange beeping noise. I'd never been to the market this late at night. I said into my comm, "Guys, do markets usually beep this late at night?"

Ianto's voice answered me, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm in the market between the subway station and the hub, and I hear this strange beeping noise."

"Caden, be careful," Gwen's voice said into my ear.

"Find out what it is, it could be something to lead us in the right direction." Jack's voice edged me on.

I followed the beeping to a corner of the market, "I think I found it," I told the team.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

I picked up something cylindrical that had been carelessly dropped by someone. It had strange runes etched on the side and had started to beep more frequently, "Jack, this can't be normal, it's a cylindrical thing with runes on the side," I tried to think of what the runes could mean, "it's beeping faster now," I trailed off and realized what it must have been.

"Throw it in the water!" Jack yelled in my ear.

I needed no invitation, I threw it as hard as I could towards the water; it exploded in the air in a great ball of fire. I hit the ground, covering my head, letting out a scream. I hadn't expected it to blow so loud. I could feel the heat on my skin. People nearby me screamed. Once I got my senses back, I ran out of the market place in case anyone tried to pin the explosion on me.

"Caden, are you ok?" Gwen asked over the comm.

"Fine," I said, adrenaline still pumping in my veins. I could have kicked myself; the police would probably investigate, and find fragments with the alien runes on them.

"Ianto, can you cover this up?" I asked, not quite knowing the extent of his abilities.

"Of course," he said.

"What did the runes look like?" Jack's voice came on again.

"They weren't human, I'm pretty sure," I dropped off. I realized where I saw them before. On Gwylim's arm.

"I think I have a lead, I'm off to the hub to check it out, check in with you guys later." I said into the comm, turning it off once again and putting it in my pocket. It was uncomfortable in my ear, and only wore it when I needed to.

Inside the hub, I looked through the CCTV of the subway. Gwylim had gotten off at the Cardiff Bay Rail Station. I followed him through linking cameras. He had finally entered a house on Alice Street. I snatched a piece of paper and a pencil and wrote the house number down. Time to pay Gwilym a visit. I told the team where I was headed; they said they would meet me there as fast as was possible.

XX

The house Gwylim had entered looked like any other house around. It was a one level blue-gray house that probably had a basement. There was a garage attached to the house with the driveway coming towards me. The neighborhood was quiet. The majority of folks around were fast asleep tucked safely in their beds unknowing that there was an alien killer on the loose, and even more unaware that their neighbor had set off a bomb in the middle of a market place. All the lights inside the house in front of me were off.

I sighed, I was anxious to get this over with, and I figured I had beaten the team here. The SUV wasn't anywhere in sight. My adrenaline levels were rising again. Earlier I had been angry that we seemed to be doing nothing effective tonight, but I loved the rush that came when you hunted down aliens. I headed up towards the house, digging my lock pick out of my jacket pocket. I knelt by the front door and, thanks to Ianto's instruction when I first joined; the door was open within thirty seconds.

Once inside, I closed the door quietly behind me, put my lock pick away, and made sure my gun was easy to reach for if the worst should happen. I had quietly walked through rooms, and opened doors only to find that no one was home, which I thought strange since I had seen Gwilym enter the house, but not leave.

I finally came to the realization that I'd have to go into the cellar. I opened the cellar door, and tried the light switch, it was busted. I felt my way down the steps. The moonlight from outside came through a tiny window and illuminated a small rectangle of light on the floor. I figured if I stood at the window and peered into the cellar, I might see someone hiding in a corner. I had made it to the rectangle in the floor when pain ran through my head and I blacked out.

XX

I don't know how much later I opened my eyes to the smell of something bad. I was sprawled in the back seat of an SUV that was fast filling with smoke. I tried the door handle. It was locked so that I couldn't pull the lock lever up to unlock it. I jumped into the driver's seat. I pushed the auto-unlock button to no avail. My hand reached for the key to turn it off, but grasped nothing. I brought my face in closer, the garage was dark and the smoke made my eyes burn, but even still I could see that there was no key to be turned. I turned to hit the window, but somehow they were reinforced so I couldn't break it even with my foot. I heard a noise outside the car.

I peered through the window into the smoky garage. A lone Varvara was standing there. I reached for my gun to shoot it through the glass, but my hand only found air. The Varvara held up my gun, "Looking for this?"

My hand went to my pocket, then to my ear looking for where my comm was, but my hand touched only my ear, and my empty pocket. I looked at the Varvara feeling like a fish in an aquarium left at the mercy of the school bully. I was his to do as he wished.

"What happened to the man from the train station?" I asked. To the extent of my knowledge, people don't just disappear.

Before my eyes, he morphed into Gwilym, "Our best kept secret is that we Varvaras can alter perception; make people see what we want them to see. Humans have the easiest perceptions to alter, it's their simplistic brains."

I realized that Gwilym never existed, and that the Varvara was just going to stand there and watch me die from oxygen starvation. I figured Varvaras didn't need to breathe oxygen to survive as he seemed unaffected by the smoke surrounding him in a fog. I was hoping my slim chances of a rescue weren't so slim. I had told the team where I was headed, and if they forgot, I had left the CCTV and the address up on the computer in the hub, "If you wanted to see me die, why not just shoot me in the head with your hollow-tipped rounds?"

"I'm tamer than my younger brother."

Varvaras have families? Well I suppose everyone does. Well now I at least knew that there were two Varvaras roaming about Cardiff killing, instead of only one as we all thought. It explained how some of the murders were so close together.

The Varvara continued his monologue, "My brother likes to see their insides decorate their outsides. I prefer to watch them die slowly like a caged animal, just how the humans on my home planet liked to watch us die."

"You underestimate me," I said a bit breathless, my throat was burning from breathing in bad air, and my eyes were burning.

He just looked at me.

I continued, "Never hunt someone that roams with a pack bigger than your own."

"So you think your friends will save you?" It was more of a statement.

"You betcha." I glared defiantly at it, determined not to let the diminishing amount of oxygen kick me in.

The Varvara peered at me for a few moments, and then started laughing the laugh of a deranged maniac, "I think your friends are just a tad busy at the moment tracking down my brother," he paused, "or being his nanny."

I could feel my breathing start to become labored, but the deeper breaths I took, the dizzier I got. I propped myself up against the corner where the seat met the door. I ignored the Varvara, and closed my eyes because my vision was starting to go awry. I was just so comfortable. I could keep my eyes closed forever; just resting against the door of the driver's side of the SUV I was trapped in.

I heard a shot, and I opened my eyes a bit reluctantly to look out of the window. The window was completely opaque, I couldn't see through the black. The door I was leaning on opened, and before I could fall, strong arms pulled me out.

"Jack?" I half-whispered, it was all the voice I could muster, and I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating.

"Just keep breathing." Jack's voice instructed me.

I could tell he was carrying me through the dark house. We went through the front door and down to where the SUV was parked in the street. The door to the back seat was open and Jack laid me inside. I was still just trying to keep breathing. I tried to sit up, "Jack?" I asked again.

"What?"

"There're two of them."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4: An Old Friend**

After spending a long twenty minutes just laying in the SUV getting my blood oxygen levels back to normal, it was enjoyable to be able to roam around hunting down the Varvara that had caused us so much trouble.

We'd all split up again roaming the city looking for signs that would put us on the correct track again. We'd wasted too much time. On any other day at two in the morning I would be completely zonked, or be fast asleep. Tonight was just another night in the office, and nothing's dull when you work for Torchwood.

The early morning air was cold against my exposed legs, but it didn't bother me as much as the thought that we might not get our alien tonight.

I was just outside the Angel Hotel, and I could hear the bumping of the bass of loud music. The hour seemed to not bother some party animals.

I thought I heard my name called out, and turned in the direction it had come from. Someone in an evening gown was hurrying towards me. I touched the small of my back to make sure my gun was completely concealed.

"Raya?" I asked. Raya was a friend from America. I'd been gone nearly a year.

I could hear Jack's voice on my comm, "Who's Raya?" I ignored him.

"How have you been?" She asks me, I can hear the excitement in her voice, she wobbles a bit as if she's had a bit too much to drink.

"Busy," I said, then to change the subject away from what might be keeping me busy, I asked, "What are you doing in Wales?"

"My brother's getting married," she paused, "Maddock would love it if you stop in, besides, you're already in a dress." She grabbed my hand and started pulling me along towards the building.

I protested, "No really, Raya, I'm working," I trailed off; hoping she thought it was a complete sentence.

"At two in the morning?" she asked a bit perplexed, but not slowing down in her pulling.

"Hey, school is expensive; I'll work any hours they tell me to." Jack's laughter on the other end of my comm reminded me it was still on. I kept it on, hoping for yet another rescue tonight. Ianto's voice said in my ear, "Where are you? I think I'm nearby."

I couldn't just say where I was, Raya would think I was odd, I phrased it in a question, "How did your brother manage to rent the Angel Hotel on Castle Street?" Could I be any more obvious?

"You know, I'm pretty sure my parents and my brother's new in-laws chipped in to get it."

"Caden,"

Despair rolled into me, I'd been spotted by more people, I turned and shortly realized that I had heard it both through the air and my comm. Ianto was hurrying up to us. I turned to Raya and said, "That's my partner, I've really got to go, but if you want, you can stop by my place later today and we can catch up then." I told her where I lived, and wondered if she'd forget by the time later came around.

Ianto was standing next to us now, "Caden, we cornered our guy, but we need you to help take him in."

"You guys are cops?" Raya asked.

"Yea," I said, letting her think what she wanted.

"Dressed like that?"

Without thinking I looked down at the dress I had been wearing all night, then turned to Ianto who was, as always, in a suit with a tie, "We went undercover earlier," I trailed off.

"I thought you were here schooling in ballistics?"

Oh, dang. Maybe she wasn't as sloshed as I thought her to be, "I am, but I'm working with the police until I can be in the lab." It amazed me how easily I was lying to my friend.

Ianto budded in, "Okay, nice meeting you, Raya, but we've really got to go now,"

"I'll see you later," I shouted over my shoulder to her. Once we were around the corner out of ear shot, I turned to Ianto, "Thanks for the rescue."

"Seem to be doing a lot of that tonight," he said with a nod.

Jack's voice came over the comms, "You two clear?"

"We're clear," Ianto answered for the both of us.

"Gwen has a plan."

XX

"I can't pull off dainty." I said to the team, but in particular to Gwen. Her plan was that I be a dainty lone brunette practically with a sign on my back telling the Varvara to come hunt me inside my apartment.

"They've already gone after you once; this one will want revenge on you for what happened to its brother." Jack reinforced, "You're the one that escaped." He pulled the SUV to a stop.

"It's worth a shot, I guess," I told them a bit reluctantly, "Just make sure I don't end up in the vaults tonight." I knew my chances were fifty-fifty; either the Varvara would get me before I reached my apartment, or once inside the apartment, the team would get it before it got me.

I opened the door and stepped out once again into the lit up city. As soon as the door clicked shut, the SUV was off. I was alone, half the city was between me and my apartment, and now I was unarmed, all the more appealing to get the Varvara to go after me. I shivered as the cool chill of the early hours of the morning surrounded me.

I paced my walking so it was the quick gait of a woman alone in a large city, but I made sure it wasn't too fast that the Varvara couldn't follow me. I resisted the urge to look behind me every handful of steps. I didn't want the Varvara knowing I was expecting it to follow me. If it really was following me as Gwen's plan had called for.

It was practically three in the morning when I finally put my key in the lock to my apartment door. The apartment was exactly as I had left it, only I hoped someone from Torchwood was hiding somewhere. I hadn't seen the SUV outside.

I kicked off my shoes in a corner by the door and shrugged out of my jacket and hung it up in the coat closet by the front door. I had a bad feeling about this plan, and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth to both kill some time before the alien would arrive at my door, and to scrub away the bad taste in my mouth.

I was just finishing up when I heard an impatient knock at my door. Purposely I had left the door unlocked. I began walking back to the front door as I would if it were any other normal night when it was opened and the Varvara came stomping in. Genuine fear showed on my face, because I truly was frightened. My heart skipped a beat then began pumping overtime. Where were my knights in shining armor?

The gun that I knew held hollow-tip rounds was already pointed in my direction, ready to be fired.

"You shot my brother!" it yelled at me.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I told it.

"You should be dead by now!"

"Yeah, well she's not." Jack's voice came from behind.

Three things happened almost simultaneously. The Varvara pivoted around on its left foot, thereby moving the position of its head so the bullet Jack had fired from his pistol hit the wall just above my head, and the bullet the Varvara had wanted to use on me went into Jack's skull instead.

I blinked when the Varvara had shot its gun, and when I opened my eyes, Jack's brain was the new paint coat on my walls.

I saw Ianto and Gwen emerge from two different hiding spots with their guns up and ready to use. I hit the floor and covered my head with my arms. I heard several shots, and could feel warm splatter hitting me. I tried not to think about the Varvara being splattered about the room, on top of Jack's brains.

When the shooting stopped, I reluctantly opened my eyes and took in the room. The room was coated in the black and red of the blood of both the Varvara and Jack. My stomach dropped when I realized that my boss had given his life for a newbie like me.

I just stared, unseeing at what remained of my boss. After a few minutes I pushed myself into a sitting position, letting my back rest against my living room wall. I didn't care that the back of my dress was soaking up blood from the wall.

I noticed Gwen and Ianto moving about in front of me. Reluctantly, my eyes had focused. Ianto had slung Jack's body over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. As he turned I saw the back of Jack's skull and could see brain chunks oozing out. My hand flew to my mouth, and I moved with surprising agility to the bathroom where I hunched over the toilet and retched. Under any other circumstances, I wouldn't be bothered by oozing brains, but just knowing who those brains had belonged to made things a bajillion times worse. These were the brains of my boss who took a bullet meant for me. It should be my brains all over my apartment.

I sat to rest against the side of the tub. My stomach ached, my throat was sore, and I felt the urge to brush my teeth again. Gwen came into the bathroom; I had left the door wide open, too much in a hurry to close it. I knew she had probably heard me. She sat next to me on the floor, wrapping an arm about my shoulders in comfort.

I brought my knees up and wrapped my arms about my legs. I rested my chin on my kneecap. I could feel my eyes burning, as if they wanted to leak tears, but I was just too exhausted. My eyelids became heavy, Gwen took notice.

She took my arm and helped me up and towards my room. I felt like a zombie being pulled along. All I could think about was Jack's brains decorating my living room. I swallowed hard, tasting the acid in my mouth, and I regretted not saying anything about wanting to brush my teeth before she pulled me out of the bathroom.

Gwen let me flop onto the bed and she began sifting through my closet looking for my pajamas. I ignored her and lifted the blanket I normally kick off the bed, I slipped my feet underneath it and pulled its edge up to my neck. I didn't care that I was still in my clothes.

Gwen must have noticed I didn't care about pajamas at the moment. She turned after a glance at me, and turned off the light as she left the room. She closed the door partly behind her. I could still see light coming through from the hallway. Vaguely I remember hearing the toilet flush and muted voices coming through the crack in the door before I finally closed my eyes and slept.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5: GREEN EGGS AND BLOOD**

I was ripped from a deep sleep to hear the phone ringing angrily by my head. I peeked one eye open and closed it quickly. The sun's bright rays shone through my bedroom window. I tried again and shoved away the urge to shut my eyes tight, pull the covers back over my head and ignore the phone. I turned my head to look at it. The answering machine light was flashing telling me there was a message. I reached an arm out from under the warm blanket to grab the ringing phone.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone, the fact that I was beat from the events the night before were evident in my voice.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty, about time you answered your phone." Wendy's voice spoke into my ear.

"Is it really still morning?" I asked, not bothering to turn the other direction to look at my alarm clock. I brought my free hand up to rub away the sleepiness from my eyes.

"Oh, only for the next fifteen minutes. You sound sick." She said, turning her tone of voice from being angry at me to being concerned.

"You could say that." I felt sick. The events from the night just past flew back into my mind. My stomach turned when I remembered my boss's brains decorating the living room.

"Anyways, you never really gave us a good reason last night why you had to bail on us." She paused over the phone, "But I guess it was since you felt ill. Hey," her voice perked up, "did you want me to bring you some chicken noodle soup or maybe some Ouzo's."

"No!" I practically shouted, sitting up in my bed and looking down to realize I had skipped pajamas last night. My dress was all wrinkled. I didn't want anyone coming over, especially since last time I saw my living room alien brains and the brains of my boss wallpapered the room, "No," I said softer, not wanting to freak her out, "I don't want you catching what I got."

"How bad is it?" Wendy asked.

I thought surprisingly fast, considering I was still tired, "I was up until three am puking my insides out." It was honest enough.

"Bummer." She said. She sighed, "Well that's all I really called for, to see what your reason for bailing on us was this time. Hope you feel better soon." She said.

"Thanks," I said. I took the phone away from my ear and hung up, figuring we were done talking on the phone.

I yawned. The bad taste in my mouth had gotten worse when it was accented by breathing all night through my wide open mouth. I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and grabbed the nearest pair of jeans and a t-shirt I could find and got out of the dress.

Being more comfortably attired and having brushed my teeth I held up the dress I had worn the previous night. It was completely blood splattered. I sighed. Guess I'd be doing laundry today. I kicked the hamper into the hallway between the bathroom and my bedroom. I turned and ripped the sheets off my bed. I realized how out of it I must have been earlier this morning. I had gone to bed in a dress that was still soaked in blood that had gotten all over my bed sheets.

Normally I do laundry in the Laundromat down the street, but since today's load was especially bloody, I decided a dark creepy apartment complex basement would suit my needs just fine.

After dumping my bed sheets into the hamper, I picked it up and reluctantly moved my eyes into the living room. I almost dropped the hamper.

My living room was spotless. I set the hamper down and took a hesitant barefoot step onto the carpet. The carpet wasn't even wet. I touched the couch near where Jack's body had been thrown with momentum. The couch wasn't damp either. I inhaled deeply. Vaguely I could smell cleaning products, but surprisingly it wasn't as potent as I would have imagined it would have been, had Ianto and Gwen slaved all night getting blood stains out.

I almost giggled when I thought that Ianto really was a merry maid. I would have giggled, if it weren't for the fact I'd seen my boss's insides on his outside. I picked up my hamper again and trudged over to my flip flops and stepped out into the hallway of the complex and down the stairs to the creepy basement where a washer and dryer sat waiting for me.

I dumped my load into the washer and headed back upstairs to grab some food so my stomach would stop grumbling at me.

I climbed back up the stairs and was grateful for the sunlight to beam on me, attempting to brighten my mood. I looked down at my feet stepping slowly up the stairs. When I looked up again I almost jumped out of my skin. My neighbor was standing at the top of the steps just peering down at me. He was five years older than me, I couldn't remember what he did at the moment, I caught off guard with his presence. He seemed comfortable in his sweats. He must be headed to the gym.

I reached the top of the steps and looked at him, "Hey." I tried to be as casual as I could to not let on how much hell my night had been.

"Is everything fine with you?" He asked, his brown eyes shone concern.

"Peachy," I said as perky as I could, "why do you ask?"

"I thought I heard gunshots yesterday," he trailed off, "well more like really early this morning." He absently brought his hand up to scratch the back of his head in anxiousness. I could tell he was uncomfortable asking.

"Sorry," I spoke, "I've been sick and couldn't sleep. My TV must have been too loud." It was the easiest lie I could think of, and I still was drained from chasing down the Varvaras last night.

"Yeah, you don't look so good, you're kinda pale and you're getting circles under your eyes." He motioned toward my face.

I absently brought my hand towards my face, "Yeah, I guess it's all that late night studying for finals that's got me feeling a bit under the weather." Everyone in the complex thought I was a normal college kid, how wrong they all were.

"Did you need a hand?"

"With what?" I raised an eyebrow; I had no idea what he was talking about.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "I just kinda figured that you could use a hand around, make dinner sometime," he trailed off.

My stomach chose the opportunity to grumble loudly.

"I make a mean omelet," he cracked a smile.

His effort made me crack a humorless smile, "You kinda look like you were goin' to the gym or something," That omelet he'd offered to make sure sounded good to me right now, I wanted something hot, and I didn't feel like messing with the stove.

"Nah," he waved his hand in front of me as if waving the idea off, "you look like you need some food."

"Its noon and you want to make me breakfast," I raised an eyebrow at him.

He looked a bit sheepish, "Unless you want something more lunch-ish…"

"No, breakfast sounds awesome."

He smiled.

I stepped past him and opened the door to my apartment, he walked in and I shut the door behind him, "Kitchen's yonder," I pointed with my head, "if you can't find what you need, just holler. I'm going to check my emails."

I picked up my laptop and sat on the couch that faced the kitchen so I could keep an eye on him. As I waited for it to boot up, I watched my neighbor work in my kitchen, "You know, you don't have to make me breakfast."

"I know," he said, "but I do remember what finals are like, it's nice to kick back and enjoy hot food you don't have to pay for or make yourself." He shrugged.

I looked back down at my computer and went to facebook first, skipping the email. One new wall post? I clicked it. Raya had written on my wall for the world to see, "Did I c u outside my bro's wedding last nite? I coulda sworn I saw u w/ some guy u said waz ur cop partner…"

Wonderful. Thank you, Raya for showing the entire facebook world that I'm lying to them. You're an awesome friend.

I looked distressed at my computer. I knew I'd had to convince her otherwise.

"Something wrong?" my neighbor spoke from the kitchen.

"It's nothing, one of my friends thinks she saw me last night roaming Cardiff."

"Dude, you're sick. You were probably sleeping all night."

"Yeah,"

"She's prolly just off her meds."

My mouth gaped open, I stared at him, "Nice to know you think great things about my friends."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to cause offense," he turned his attention back to the eggs he'd dumped in a frying pan without finishing his sentence.

"No, you just gave me inspiration on what to tell her back." I typed in response back to her, 'Dude, ur off ur meds. I must'a had bad food fm the school's lunch menu. Been puking my insides out all nite. 'Sides, I can't get a job w/ the cops b4 I graduate, trust me, I've looked in2 it.'

My neighbor laughed.

I checked my email after signing out of facebook. There wasn't much, just some junk emails and one from my parents saying how my father had decided to build a tool shed in the backyard. I would have laughed at the thought of seeing my father try to build something in which he couldn't use duct tape, but I remembered how my living room looked the night before. Before I could gag mentally, a plate was set on the coffee table with a fork.

I looked up and saw my neighbor smiling down at me.

"Wow that was quick." I said. I hadn't expected him to be so fast. I would enjoy his company more if my boss wasn't dead because of me.

I shut the computer down and picked up the fork and plate, "Smells excellent." I stabbed some egg onto the fork and placed it in my mouth. I spoke with my mouth still open, "Mm, this is the best omelet ever!"

He laughed.

As I chewed ravenously, his cell phone started ringing.

He dug it reluctantly out of his pocket, "Sorry, that's my buddy, he's waitin' for me at the gym."

"I knew you were headed out."

He stepped towards the door.

"But you know," I said, he turned to face me, I continued, "if you just wanted to chill, knocking on the door works too."

He blushed a little then turned to open the front door to my apartment.

"Thanks again!" I said.

He lifted his hand in a farewell gesture and he shut the door.

I finished my breakfast and dumped the dirty dishes in the plate. I'd wash them later. I turned and walked towards the linen closet and pulled out new bed sheets. I put them on my bed.

I turned to look at the time and headed back down the stairs to the creepy basement. My wash was done. In the dark basement, I still hadn't turned the light on. There was some light coming through the storm windows. I held up my dress and was surprised when all the blood seemed to have come out. I was lucky. I dumped them in the dryer and turned it on.

I knew Ianto had done a thorough job in cleaning my living room, but it still didn't feel clean to me, even though it couldn't get cleaner. I settled for cleaning my bathroom to waste the time it took to dry my clothes.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6: BUCIO**

After I'd taken my laundry out of the dryer, I realized I had nothing better to do. I headed to the hub. I took the bus to the millennium centre. It was a nice day out, but I didn't want to spend too much time engrossed in my thoughts. My thoughts were pretty depressing. I knew Ianto and Gwen wouldn't expect me at the hub, but I knew they were the only two that might understand where I sat.

Jack was dead. It was my fault. I had no one to tell besides Ianto and Gwen, but they saw the whole ordeal with their own eyes.

I stepped through the front door to the hub. I'd always thought it funny how the reception room was decorated compared to what really went on here. I reached over the desk and hit the button that opened the hidden door that lead to the hub.

I stepped into the hub and looked up. Jack's guard dog squawked from up above. I hoped Ianto knew how to feed it. I sure had no clue.

I was going to futz with things at my desk when I looked down the hallway that led to the vaults. One vault was open and Jack lay on what looked like a human-sized tray for cadavers. Someone had taken his bloody clothes and switched them with clean white scrubs that contrasted with the gaping hole in the remains of his skull.

Ianto had pulled up a stool and was looking at his captain. From the distance I was at, it didn't even look like he was fazed by seeing his boss's brains splattered before his eyes. He just sat there as if he was waiting for something to happen.

I approached him, trying to not look at the remains of what was once my boss. "You know you can't keep him out here for long. He'll start to smell after a few days."

"Yeah," He didn't lift his gaze from Jack.

"Did you log him out of the system yet?" I asked, knowing protocol for when a Torchwood member dies.

"Not yet," he said solemnly, though when he looked up, his eyes weren't full of despair as mine were.

"Did you want me to do it?" I asked innocently, thinking maybe he wanted me to do it because this whole mess was my fault.

"No. I'll do it. I just haven't gotten around to doing it yet."

I shrugged, "Okay. Well, I'll just be at my desk then," I trailed off.

His gaze returned to the corpse before us.

Against my will, my eyes followed his and I peered at Jack's corpse. I narrowed my gaze. Was it just me, or did it look like his skull was a bit more intact than it was last night? It was still massively deformed, but it didn't look as fragmented as I thought it had been last night.

I turned and walked back to my desk. Staring at a corpse was kind of creepy. I shrugged mentally. Maybe his skull just seemed less fragmented because I was so out of it last night. I probably hadn't seen that it wasn't as bad as I thought. That didn't change the fact he was dead.

My desk had the alien's gun on it. I took it as a sign Ianto wanted me to figure out all I could about the gun. I flopped into my chair and turned my computer on. I picked up the handgun. It seemed to weigh as much as the 1911 handgun I'd been assigned by Jack. It looked like a cross between a Ruger Crimson Trace and a 460 Smith and Wesson Magnum 10.5". I turned it over. There were some strange etchings on the side.

My computer had booted up. I signed into the system. While Windows was loading, I pulled a sketch pad closer to me and checked to see that the USB cable was plugged into the computer.

I opened the translation program on my computer and sketched in the symbols. It began searching quickly for my request. A few long minutes passed but it eventually began blinking in bright red all caps letters "BUCIO".

I raised an eyebrow at my computer. I moved my cursor to the search box and typed in "BUCIO" there. I watched the pterodactyl flying above me while I was waiting for the results to come.

The list came up and I looked down at the languages that had come up. Varvi was the one I figured went along with the Varvara. I looked across the line looking for what BUCIO was. The line read "Basifactos United Orbital Intelligence Clan". I furrowed my brow, that couldn't be right; the letters weren't in the right order. But then I remembered taking a foreign language in high school. The words in sentences were jumbled when you directly translated them. Perhaps some words were jumbled in our English, but in Varvi were completely in order.

I knew we'd probably never find out what all that mumbo jumbo meant, but we had a name for the gun. I spent the next few hours cataloguing the weapon in our alien weaponry database for easy look-up if we ever needed the information later.

When I finished it still wasn't late. I didn't want to head home yet. I didn't want to see the scene play over in my mind when I walked in my apartment. I walked down the hall back to the vaults. Ianto hadn't moved. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he were a statue. He still just sat there and waited. Gwen must have brought him a coffee earlier. The mug in his hands was half filled with coffee gone cold from sitting for a while.

"If you need a break, you can leave for a bit. I'll stay here in your spot." I paused, unsure if I wanted to go on, but I wanted to know, I phrased it as more as a statement, "I'm not sure why you feel obligated to watch over him, it's not like he's going anywhere," I shrugged, "but I'll sit here while you go take a nap or get hot coffee or something."

He looked up and seemed to consider it for a while. I felt strange under his gaze, he seemed to be looking through me. Eventually he nodded, "I should get up for a bit, my back's killin' me." He attempted a smile, but it fizzled short. He stood awkwardly and walked down the hall to the main hub. Before he turned the corner, he turned to look back at Jack.

I'd sat down on the seat Ianto had just vacated, I saw him turn. I waved my hand in a gesture encouraging him to continue, "Go on, he'll be fine." I said, knowing he was worried for some reason for his captain. Jack was dead, and I guess we were all dealing with it differently.

I thought about it for a while though. Even in the heat of all the action last night at my apartment, I vaguely remembered Ianto and Gwen hardly flinching when Jack's head was blown to pieces. I shrugged mentally, I knew Ianto and Gwen had been with the team for much longer than I had. I wondered if we ever got used to the death around us. I never seemed to be quite so bothered when we had to dispose of aliens, but I'd never been through the death of a team member before.

I knew there were two empty desks. When Jack first showed me around, he'd mentioned that I would get my own desk, I had noticed that there were two open desks. But the next time I'd walked into the hub, he'd had another desk brought in. I'm no psychologist, but I had a feeling that whoever that desk had belonged to wasn't long gone. Knowing two desks were empty made things even different, because I figured two members had died recently. When I'd first made that realization, it was a slap in the face. I was twenty, still in college, I couldn't die. I was too young to die.

Life's different in Torchwood.

There are monsters in this world that everyone wants to deny. You talk about your job to anyone, they lock you in the cuckoo's nest. That was lesson one. Don't talk about your job to anyone.

I remember being given my gun for the first time. I was studying ballistics so I'd studied my handguns. I was handed a 1911. I almost laughed out loud at the "Torchwood" side plate. But I held my laughter in because I knew that guns weren't supposed to be funny, and neither was the job of hunting down aliens and taking their technology to arm the human race against the future.

"What's this?" I'd asked Jack, pointing to the thing attached to the equipment rail.

"GPS." Jack had said bluntly

"What for?" I had raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? The gun says 'Torchwood' on the side and you want to know why there's GPS on it?"

I had felt my cheeks turn red in embarrassment, of course if the gun has the name of a top secret organization on it, they're going to want the gun back if it's stolen or lost.

"Why doesn't your gun have GPS on it, then?" I had asked, challenging him.

"This thing?" he had pulled out his Webley Mk IV, "Firstly, it doesn't have 'Torchwood' set into it, and secondly, it's my gun. This baby doesn't leave my sight." He'd finished with a wide grin of amusement.

The light chink of metal on metal tore me out of my thoughts and back to the present. I looked down at the corpse in front of me. I knew the noise had to have come from here. It was a light clink that wouldn't have traveled to my ears if it hadn't been close.

I ducked my head under the metal tray holding up Jack's body looking for something that may have come loose. I scanned the floor looking for a loose pin that had fallen.

Nothing.

The only thing that was left was the actual tray Jack was set on. I knew I needed a closer look. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath before pressing my face close to the remains of Jack's head. I let my breath go quicker than I'd wanted to; it all came out in a rush. I furrowed my brow again and narrowed my gaze. It'd been only a handful of hours since I'd last gazed at his skull, but it seemed to be less fragmented every time I looked at it.

I looked just below the major exit wound that had left a gaping hole in Jack's skull. A small piece of metal lay there. Disregarding the promise I'd made myself to not let Jack out of my sight before Ianto returned, I jogged to the autopsy room and pulled a tweezers from the table. I sped back to Jack's body armed. I picked up the little piece of metal with the tweezers and looked closely at it. Its silver color matched the tray Jack was laying on, but not anything else nearby. I'd already investigated the tray and it definitely was not part of the cadaver tray. The image of the gun still sitting on my desk flashed in my mind. The silver colors matched. The silver fragment must be a chunk of the bullet the Varvara had shot at Jack.

Whenever hollow tipped bullets hit bone, they exploded, causing fragments to spatter everywhere. It was very possible that the bullet fragment had fallen out of Jack's brains. I was glad I had gone for the tweezers and not touched the fragment outright. I wanted to run screens on the fragment held between the tweezers in my hand, but I could wait until Ianto came back. I still didn't know why we couln't just put his body away in the vaults. His corpse served as a reminder that I could do without.

I set the fragment down with the tweezers. I engrossed myself in my thoughts. I was trying to put the pieces together. If we'd just placed Jack on the cadaver tray, I would understand a bullet fragment falling out of his skull. He'd been lying there for hours on end. He hadn't been moved. Unless his brain tissue was moving – unlikely – there was no reason this should have fallen out of his brain.

I was reminded of the lecture in one of my classes when we talked about grafts being rejected. I related it to the bullet fragment being rejected by Jack's brain. I almost laughed aloud as to the ludicrously of the idea. Jack was dead. His tissues were dead; they weren't going to do any more rejecting of anything anymore.

So if his tissues didn't push the fragment out, what did?

Ianto took the perfect opportunity to return from whatever errand he had left to do. He had a fresh hot mug of coffee in one hand. The aroma reached me just before Ianto did.

"I suppose you'll want your lookout post back." I attempted to make a joke. Ok, so maybe it was a lame joke, Ianto didn't even smile. I stood up and gestured that the seat was all his, "I found this," I said, picking up the fragment with the tweezers and holding it up for him to see, "I'm going to run some tests and see if it is a fragment from the bullet and not some random piece of metal falling out of his head."

It seemed Ianto did a double take, "Fell out of his head?" he raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean it fell?"

"I was just sitting here and I heard its impact on the tray thingy Jack's laying on. It must have fallen out; I certainly wouldn't go digging for fragments." I said.

Ianto's brows knitted together, I could tell he was trying to put the pieces together. I began to get a feeling he knew more than I did, but he wasn't disclosing any information, and I didn't know what he knew that I could ask a question to. I blamed it on my overtaxed brain.

I shrugged and turned, taking the tweezers and the fragment back to my desk.

I ran my screen test and the metal that had fallen out of Jack's brain wasn't man made. I compared the results with a spare bullet from the BUCIO gun's magazine cartridge. The results clearly stated that the fragment from Jack's brain was from the Varvara.

But again, how did it get rejected from his brain to begin with?


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7: IT WAS A ONE TIME DEAL**

School was excellent Monday morning. Excuse my sarcasm. Putting on the façade that everything was peachy took effort. My mind kept replaying the scene in my living room where my boss took the bullet that was meant for me. How long would these feelings of regret, no, not regret, guilt last? Hah, maybe when my boss started walking around again I wouldn't feel so guilty anymore. But like you can bring someone back from the dead who's had their brains wallpaper an entire room.

I hurried back home, eager to get rid of the show I was putting on for the benefit of my friends. My school friends knew nothing of Torchwood. Even if I could tell them all about my job, I wouldn't. My friends would never know that someone had taken a bullet for me. I was just a normal college kid; no one shoots at a random college kid unless we're talking about the random homicide.

Exams were coming up. The semester was finally coming to an end. It was a nice feeling to know that soon I wouldn't need to keep up in school and work in Torchwood. Just two more weeks of school yet and then graduation.

I'd already figured out the lie I would tell my parents when graduation was over. I enjoyed it here in Cardiff, and wanted to stay longer and switch my student visa for a work visa. I would leave out the part that when I renewed my visa, it would be permanent. You can't exactly say "I quit" when you're in Torchwood. Torchwood may be the best job when it comes to variety, never a dull moment, let me tell you. But working in Torchwood is a struggle. Everyday you fight for the human race against creatures out of this world, creatures coming from farther away than you can possibly imagine.

I flopped tiredly onto my couch.

Naturally, the instant you sit anywhere and get comfortable, knocking at the door means you have to get up. I trudged to the door to my apartment and opened it without peeking through the peep hole first.

My neighbor from the day before stood in the doorway.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi," I said, "what's new?"

"How do you feel about horror movies?" he asked.

Can you say left field? "Love 'em, why?"

"Well there's this movie comin' out Friday night and my friends aren't interested," he trailed off.

"Sure." I said.

"What?"

"Sure, I'll go to the movie with you."

"Dinner before or after?" he spat out.

I raised an eyebrow, "It depends on when the movie is. If it's a late night showing, make dinner earlier." I shrugged mentally. I could use the distraction; my thoughts kept turning to my dead boss. It had been really hard to concentrate during class today.

"Any preference?"

"Surprise me." I said. When you work in Torchwood, there's a good chance any plans you make need to be cancelled last minute. I decided not to tell him that, but opted instead for, "Just don't make it any fancy place that needs reservations half a week ahead."

He laughed nervously.

"I mean it." I said.

Someone cleared their throat behind him. My neighbor and I both turned to look at the newcomer

"Raya?" I asked, my stomach dropped to see her standing here.

"Hey." Was all she said. I could tell she was trying not to make a scene. She had something on her mind she needed to get out.

My neighbor must have picked up on that too, he turned to me, "So, uhh, Friday then. After you get back from school we can go."

"Okay." I said, ignoring the fact he knew I had school on Friday and knew when I came home.

He turned and walked away without a second glance.

I opened the door wider and let Raya through, before I could ask her anything, she spoke up, getting right to the point.

"So where's your cop partner?" she asked.

"Dude, I'm not a cop." I told her, looking straight into her eyes. I was a passable liar. But this was the truth. The closest division of law enforcement Torchwood could be referred to was Special Ops. It's what we told people who didn't understand what Torchwood was.

"But your partner must be a cop." She said.

"How do you figure?" I raised an eyebrow. I wanted to know where she was coming from before I let something slip.

"You said you were cops." She stated simply, "But see, I asked around. Turns out you and your partner were roaming Cardiff Saturday night into early Sunday with a gun."

Hmm. We'd have to be a bit more discreet for a secret organization in the future. I'd also have to stop underestimating my friends. They picked up on more things than I thought they did.

"I'm not a cop." I said.

"Then what were you doing when I saw you? Why did you lie straight to my face?"

I was hunting down killer aliens…like she'd believe that. I just looked at her, not being able to come up with a good excuse.

"You look ill." She motioned towards my face and my slightly red brimmed eyes.

"It's just allergies." I said.

"You don't have allergies." She said.

"I came home and puked my insides out shortly after you saw me. You happy?" Ok. So it was a couple hours after she saw me, but same difference.

"Why? Did you see something that horrible?" She began to roam the room, "It smells like you got your living room deep cleaned." She said. She knelt down to touch the carpet by the corner in my living room. I knew her hand wouldn't find the carpet was wet.

"It was a favor," I said, "from one of my friends."

"You're cop friend?"

I didn't answer.

Her eyes narrowed at the corner where the carpet met the wall. She leaned closer and stuck her face close to the wall. Vaguely I could see a dark splotch of something though I couldn't tell what it was from the distance I was at. Raya reached forward and touched it with her fingertips.

She gasped quietly, "Is this blood?"

My stomach dropped. This couldn't be, Ianto would never miss a spot, he was the best at cleaning bloody messes. I struggled to find an explanation.

"Tell me the truth." She said sternly, "I know you had a gun when I saw you two nights ago, and I know that there were a considerable number of people gone missing from inside their apartment. Tell me what's going on!"

I sighed, finding my feet interesting for a minute while I collected my words, finally I looked straight into her eyes and spoke, "It was nothing. Cops got a lead that someone was going around killing people and that I fit the description of one of their next targets. I helped them get the bad guy. Yes, someone was shot in here and the cops had people clean it up. It was a one time deal," I said I pleaded with my eyes, "please don't tell my parents. They're already worried about me. I wouldn't tell anyone else either, it's not exactly like this story is all over the news."

"Okay," she said calmly, "I won't tell. It's just nice to know the truth."

XX

I didn't go back to the hub until Friday afternoon. I'd finished exams early and had some time to kill before I was expected back at my apartment at the usual time I would come home on Friday. Surprisingly I hadn't had to cancel my dinner and a movie outing with my neighbor. Briefly I wondered if he thought it was a date. I shrugged mentally; he could think whatever he wanted.

I looked towards the vaults. Sometime between now and the last time I'd been here they'd moved a couch to the vaults. I guess it was so Ianto didn't have to leave to get some sleep. Ianto was awake and just looking at Jack like he had been the entire time I was at the hub last. From down the hall I did a double take at Jack.

I walked towards him to get myself a closer look. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Jack's brain was reconstructing itself. Ludicrous. Tissues inside people don't heal themselves after the person is dead. I narrowed my gaze. Jack's brain was definitely more whole than it had been last time I saw it.

I could feel Ianto looking at me, he probably wondered what I was doing. I ignored him. I looked onto the cadaver tray and noticed more silver fragments lying on the tray.

I looked up at Ianto, "Is someone taking the fragments out of his brain?" I questioned, "You'll never find them all."

"No," Ianto said, "Gwen and I haven't touched him."

"Why haven't you put him in the vaults yet and sealed it off? It's not like he's going to come back to life or anything." I said. I saw something gleam in Ianto's eyes, like he knew something but wasn't saying anything.

"Protocol." He said simply, as if it explained everything.

I raised my eyebrow at him, searching my brain for where protocol said we had to leave the corpse of our dead colleague rotting on a cadaver tray for almost a whole week. I came up with no answer.

I inhaled deeply trying to mask it as a yawn. I knew Ianto knew I had finals. He'd understand if I was exhausted. What I was really doing is seeing if the corpse was starting to smell. I furrowed my brow when I realized it didn't smell any different.

There wasn't a hint of rotting flesh in the air.

I briefly wondered if Ianto had been spraying the vaults with Febreeze, then shoved it aside, that was a ridiculous idea, Febreeze probably doesn't work on rotting corpses.

I looked down at Jack and realized his corpse was definitely not rotting. I couldn't explain it. I shoved the thought aside and told him I'd be at my desk for an hour or two then headed to dinner and a movie with a friend. He nodded but didn't move his eyes from the corpse before us.

This entire experience was one of the weirdest things I'd encountered in this job. I knew Ianto and Gwen hardly blinked when it came to shooting down aliens terrorizing Cardiff. How could they not blink when their boss was shot down in front of them?

I didn't remember Ianto and Jack ever being separate from each other's company. The two were inseparable. Maybe Ianto was having problems letting go of Jack.

All questions and no answers.

**AN: -sigh- one more chapter left prolly. R&R plz! Hope u guys enjoyed the story so-far.**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8: ZOMBIES AREN'T SO FAR FETCHED**

Ianto or Gwen never texted to tell me to come into work during the week of finals. I didn't come in voluntarily either. I needed to get my last minute studying in so I could be sure to pass my classes. After a week of being free from the hub, it got to me. I needed to find out what was going on at the hub.

I zoomed through Friday's final exam, the last exam I'd ever have to take. Graduation was on Sunday, and life would become much less hectic after that. I was looking forward to not balancing school and Torchwood.

I walked in the main base of the hub and looked up to see Jack's guard dog flying above me, he squawked at me, but didn't stop soaring.

"Gwen?" I called, "Ianto?"

No one answered me. At least I knew where to find Ianto. I headed towards the vaults and stopped once I turned the corner.

The couch was still there, but it was vacated. My gaze turned to the cadaver tray Jack had been on for almost two weeks and noticed it was empty too.

I stepped forward and took a closer look at the tray. There were enough silver fragments that could easily make up a whole bullet. I picked up a fragment with my hand and held it up to my face. This was impossible. The bullet had been a hollow tipped round before it shattered into a billion pieces upon hitting Jack's skull. There was no way all the pieces could be out, not even a neurosurgeon could find all the pieces in a brain that had had a hollow tipped bullet explode through it.

"Do all the pieces of the puzzle fit?" an American voice asked from behind me, "Or are you missing a few?"

I dropped the fragment I had been holding and spun around just a little too quickly. I must be hallucinating. Dead people don't get up after being dead for almost two weeks. Jack was standing not two arms lengths away. He looked a bit pale and he had some bruising on his forehead where the bullet had gone through his head.

I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes, trying to make the vision of my dead boss standing in front of me go away. I peeked an eye open and saw him still there. There was a smile on his face as if he was amused by this whole situation.

"Sir, did you need me to," Ianto cut himself off as he came around the corner and saw me gaping at my dead boss.

"I'm dreaming, right?" I asked.

"Nope," Jack answered me.

"Hallucinating, then?"

"No, again,"

"So you're real?" I asked Jack.

"Yeapp,"

I turned to Ianto, "Did you bring him back? Do we have some kind of alien technology that brings dead people back to life?"

"Yes and no." Ianto answered. At my continued confused gaping, he continued, "We destroyed it shortly before you were recruited."

I silently stared at the two before me before pointing at Jack, "So, you're a zombie." I said, not caring how ridiculous it sounded. It was the only answer I could come up with.

Jack laughed loudly at it before stepping forward and taking my hand. His hands weren't the creepy cold of a cadaver. His hands were as warm as any normal human. He spoke, "I have a heartbeat, you know." He placed my hand against his chest where his heart was. I could feel it beating beneath my hand.

I ripped my hand out of his grasp. I knew he could have kept it there if he wanted, he was stronger than me even though he'd just come back from the dead, "How do you explain it?" I asked. My eyes burned. I'd seen this man get his head blown to pieces in my living room, seen his brains all over. I've peered inside his skull the few times I'd come to the hub after dealing with the Varvara. There was no way this was all true, "Do you have a twin?" I questioned Jack.

"No."

"A clone?"

He laughed again, "Definitely not."

"Are you a zombie?"

"Zombie?" He asked, he looked at me like I was crazy.

"Well we work with aliens day in and day out, zombies aren't so far fetched."

"I'm not a zombie. Do I look like the living dead to you?"

"Well, you were dead and now you're walking around, it screams zombie at me."

"I'm not a zombie." He repeated.

I wanted to know if this was definitely Jack, "What's my name?"

"You're name is Caden Phyre, you came to Cardiff from Wausau, Wisconsin to study ballistics. You met me in an alleyway when I saved your ass from getting your brains spewed all over. You refused to take an amnesia pill, you overcame the Retcon anyway and you were recruited to Torchwood. I was shot saving your ass from the Varvara. Are you satisfied?"

"No." I said, "I'm satisfied that you really are Jack Harkness, but it still doesn't explain how you're standing here."

He sighed, "There isn't any easy way to explain this," he said, "but I just can't die."

I snorted in disbelief.

"Look, a long time ago I died and for some reason I was brought back to life. Since then, I can't die."

"So what, you just completely regenerated?"

He laughed like there was some hidden joke, I didn't see any humor.

"Basically." He said.

"Why did it take so long?" Ianto spoke up, it was the first phrase he'd said for a while, he seemed content to let me ask all my questions, it was his turn to question.

"Why did it take so long?" I repeated, gaping at Ianto, "You knew about this and you people didn't tell me?"

"It freaks people out," Jack said for Ianto, gesturing towards me. He continued, "It took practically two weeks because all the fragments needed to come out."

"So you can't regenerate if the thing that killed you is still stuck in you?" I asked.

He laughed again.

"Is there something funny about something I'm saying?" I questioned angrily. I felt like a child asking silly questions.

"No, nothing funny, sorry," He said, trying to wipe the smile off his face, "To answer your question, no, I can't put myself completely together if something's still stuck in me."

"That's powerful information to have," I said looking angrily at him, "maybe next time you pull this on me, I'll drive a stake in you and leave it there."

His smile fully left his face, "You wouldn't do that."

"Probably not, but don't try me." I let some of the anger leave my features, "Does Gwen know you can't die?"

"Yeapp." He said, making a popping sound on the 'p'.

"So, new girl isn't important enough to know her boss can't die?"

"It's not like I go around advertising I can't die. Sometimes crap happens and I die in front of people. Couple hours or days later, or whatever, I come back to life right before their eyes." He paused, "They just find out," he trailed off.

I nodded.

"You should probably go back home, you know, to sort through all this information overload stuff." Jack suggested.

I kneaded my temple with my fingers, "Yeah, probably."


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9: GRADUATION**

Wendy and I got ready at Wendy's place for graduation. When she let me in to her place, she was still in pajamas. It was almost noon and we had to be at the college auditorium at one. Wendy wanted to make sure she had enough time to get ready and get there.

She looked at me like I was weird for showing up at her place already dressed. My dress was an emerald color halter dress with a black tie around my waist.

She quickly shrugged me being already dressed off and took my wrist and pulled me towards her closet in her bedroom. She held out two dresses and looked at me in despair.

I knew she couldn't choose between the two. One was crimson and the other was purple. I pointed at the crimson one.

Her face lit up in excitement.

I turned and sat facing her kitchen with my back against the doorframe to her room, giving her some privacy to change.

"So did you get a job yet?" she asked me while she was changing.

"Yeah, right here in Cardiff." I said with excitement in my voice, "The only setback is whenever they need me, I have to go in. I'm sort of on-call any time of the day any day of the week."

"That's a bummer." She said.

"Yeah, that translates to mean many future rain checks." I knew I'd have to cancel plans at least a handful of times in the future. I'd already had to cancel plans, just look at when the Varvara came to Cardiff. Now I wouldn't have to lie anymore. I'd just have to say I got called into work.

"Can you make Ouzo's after the graduation ceremony today?" she asked.

"If work doesn't tell me I need to go in." I said, "If I have to go to work, I'll call or text you when I get off and I'll make it up to you by buying."

"Spiffy!" she said.

I laughed at her lingo, but let it slide without teasing her about it.

XX

We'd taken the bus to the campus and ended up arriving only 15 minutes before the ceremony started. We walked to the bottom of the auditorium in our dorky washboard hats and graduations gowns that didn't breathe. It was already hot and stuffy in the auditorium. I wasn't sure if the air conditioner had broken, or if it just hadn't kicked on yet.

Wendy and I had to split up to sit down. She had to sit with the other Ms and I sat with the Ps in our designated seats.

To my relief the ceremony started promptly. People blabbered words that were supposed to be meaningful into the microphone that projected their voice over the speakers. I just thought it was a filler. It's not like we hadn't graduated from something else before. High school graduation wasn't that far behind me, and others probably had already graduated from college before. Wendy had wanted to participate in the college graduation ceremonies and I had humored her by keeping her company. Now we weren't even sitting near each other. I should have seen that coming.

I looked behind me at the friends and families of the people graduating. I didn't see any familiar faces. I hadn't even told my parents I was going to be part of the ceremony. I didn't want them coming to Cardiff and then me being called into work and not being able to spend any time with them during their stay. There weren't many people filling the auditorium seats besides us graduates in ridiculous looking washboard hats. I looked at the far wall of the auditorium. Three people stood out from the crowd. A woman in jeans and a t-shirt, a man in a suit and tie, and the third was causing heads to turn, he was in period military.

I knew I had told them I was participating in graduation ceremonies to humor my best friend, but I had never told them what time. But, hey, they were Torchwood, they got any information they wanted.

The ceremony dragged.

Finally they got to calling names. I fidgeted in my seat and sighed. I had to wait for P.

I stared angrily at the back of Wendy's head, hoping she'd turn around and see just how perky this whole thing was.

She turned and looked in my direction. She put on a sheepish face and shrugged mouthing, "Sorry."

I guess the ceremony wasn't going as she had thought it would either. I don't even know why she made me wear a dress, you couldn't even see through the stupid gown they made us wear.

My row stood up and like cattle, we herded towards the stage, walked across it when our name was called and got our diploma or whatever we were set to get. When I was walking back to my seat I chanced a glance where I'd seen my three colleagues. They'd disappeared. I shrugged mentally, it's not like I was expecting them to show in the first place.

The master of ceremonies for graduation took up the microphone and blabbed on about something I wasn't paying attention to. He made us all stand and then announced us as the new graduating class and that the graduates could now throw their caps in the air.

I chucked mine at Wendy, secretly hoping it would smack her in the back of the head. It fell short…dang.

I felt vibrating against my side. I unzipped the stupid graduation gown and took my cell phone out of the ties of my dress.

One new text message.

I opened it and saw the Torchwood T. I dumped the gown where I stood and turned and walked away towards the side exit, sneaking out as best I could. I tried to melt with the crowd before my friends could convince me to hunt down that stupid gown and take pictures for hours.

Outside the building, the SUV was easy to find. It sat in the fire lane and its blue lights on the dash were lit up. No one would ask an official looking vehicle to move out of the fire lane.

I scurried towards the black SUV and opened the side door behind the driver's seat. Gwen sat in the back, Ianto rode shotgun, and Jack drove at the wheel.

Before I could close the door, the SUV was off.

"Thanks for the rescue." I said, smile on my face. I'd gotten used to Jack's crazy driving.

"Nice ceremony." Jack said

"Yeah? Did you make any friends?" I asked, joking around.

"As a matter of fact," Jack started.

Ianto cut him off, "There's a weevil loose on the city."

I looked at Gwen, "Did you grab me a t-shirt and some jeans?"

Gwen smiled and held up a bundle of clothes.

I took them and started changing in the SUV. I just wanted out of this dress.

Weevil hunting, my favorite; they didn't try to shoot you.


End file.
